Your Gues(t)s

There,
where you are
I can see me
being shown
around by you
native trees and path
ways you cross
while I notice
the shade of the sky
unable to grasp
the name
the word
the color
or any delicate phrase
to turn
to say
the way the crisp air
nibbles on my nose
before piercing my ear
lobes with sugar frosted
sentiments thick with lust
lingering over us
like clouds
getting there
some time
where ever
There
is.



Image by Carl Moll, watercolor c. 1901-1902, Stroll in the gardens of Votivkirche, Vienna [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Just take a chance

The games we play

occupy our attention,

give us chance,

to entertain and refrain us

from certainties. We gamble

to participate in our fate

in the end, the outcome,

the odds

on us, against loss.

We leverage the inevitable,

predict the unfathomable

and recognize our own home range,

stable-steady,

gait in the headlong stride

of the dark horse.

-just to see-

We dance with destiny

then trip on our own shod

limbs that lead to

breaking those lucky legs

and just chalk it up to the chance

we lost.

Image is of a wood engraving by W.L. Sheppard (drawn by W.B. Meyers), Harpers Weekly October 1870, Betting on the Favorite.

Best Bend Forward

By bend and nose
by eyes and toes

we can only
go a head
of ourselves
instead

of looking up
stopping to stoop
and smell a beauty
that eyes cannot spell

what others don't see
what we cannot tell
about the roses in your past
kneeling eyes downcast

By not being Here
By smelling your own Fear.



Image of painting by John William Waterhouse [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons, The Soul of a Rose, 1908.

Size Matters

How big is an idea?

People have said the internet was HUGE-

I haven’t seen it

with my own eyes, it could be all lies

like conspiracy and particle theories.

I know some HOPES are grander than others.

And I’ve carried some burdens bigger than a bus-

but I think that most people care less

about microscopic entities that they cannot see

or things that happen too slowly…

Have you ever stood

barefoot in the shoreline

Feet in the foam? If so, you know,

water always wins The Sands of Time.

Teamed together they make us pearls

of wisdom, bioluminescence,

a light within that begins

when one Believes

without sight

a tiny wish, a photon, a want to

that turns with light into a neutrino

that gets excited and becomes an electron

before any quarks form.

I think ideas matter,

stemming from a soft grey area...

And then there was light!

And then Atom,

and then we gain momentum,

molecule by molecule,

we are busy making molehills.

So blood is thicker than water,

and the homo sapiens denser than air-

I swear I saw a flying fear,

and my dear

it was GARGANTUAN!

Just like that GIANT ego, those

greenish, meanish miasmas

that all seem and smell the same.

So many slippery minuscule ideas,

evaporating into invisible shame,

hoping to erase your name

in the sand, 

eroding where you think 

you stand.

Image of Sea Wall at Bald Head Cliff, York, Maine 1901, [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Innate Instability

Madness is

hearing voices.
No, that was my conscience.
Madness is
multiple personalities.
No, I am a caretaker, a writer, a witness in one.
Madness is;
Deep Depression, Soaring Elation, Paralyzing Fear, Boundless Joy.
No, this is the ride we're on.
Madness is
germaphobes and hypochondriacs.
No, there's a pill for that.
Madness is
the noise outside, the silence inside.
No, these are creature comforts.
Madness is
learning and forgetting.
No, practice is process on repeat.
Madness must get easier.
Madness is mostly
living on language.
No, that is poetry.
Madness is
intimately knowing death
while casually living life.
Madness is
arguing with ones self,
And now I'm Mad.

“I'd rather have a free bottle in front of me than a prefrontal lobotomy.”-Tom Waits

Image of painting by Hieronymus Bosch (circa 1450–1516) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

The Queen of Quirk

You are wise

it is said

better at analogy

You are tender

to all others

rubbed raw inside

You are smart

sometimes it hurts

with knowing

You are creative

making messes into

unfinished mosaics

You are so shy

paranoid of persona

better to be banished

You are pretty

much a pansy on a pedestal

dropping in the hot sun

You are so thoughtful

there's no more room

for empty things

You are nothing special

You are something else

You are finding yourself

lost in the crowd.

Image(s) by Russell Lee [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons, Crowley beauty pageant October 1938. 

Balancing Banality

It's too early. Only 3:20.

Now I'm late, it's already 4:18. Up. Slippers, blanket, shivers me limber.

Coffee on, kitchen-sink light, electric fireplace on, computer, charge phone, let Smokey in, let Bandit out.

Log in, open tabs, feed cats, get coffee, stir, sip, must pee, wash hands-warm...

Go through stacks on desk, left to right, read, reply, read, save, share, send, read, post, drink coffee.

All done, next?

For daughter waking up, more lights on, TV, News on, make more coffee, write, watch, read.

Poetry, philosophy, physics.

Stop. Take daughter to school. Thoughts…

Kiss. Goodluck on your test! Rah, rah!

More thoughts.

Done? Home? Yes. Next.

Take shower-towel-smells moldy. Hot water hits head, goosebumps.

Get ideas-hurry, hurry, hurry!

Warm soapy shave in fast strokes, lather, rinse, rinse, rinse.

Hurry...what was it...down the drain-

Next. Clothes.

What do I want to look like today? Someone else, for sure.

Preening Takes Way Too Loooonnngg!

Done getting ready for nothing. Next?

Shoot, chores first. Head down. Sleeves up.

Laundry, dishes, straighten, sweep, trash out, beds...8:17. What's for dinner tonight?

Do crossword puzzle, drink green juice. Nourished. Done. Next.

Shoot, where was I? Who was I working on?

Learn, learn, learn. Write, write, write, there-right there

I am, somewhere

aware.

Nope, Stop. Drop it. Head Down.

Pick up daughter, lend her my ears, shoulder, back.

Stroke pretty little fragile ego. All better.

Done. Home? Already? Okay. Next.

More laundry, more dishes, check the mail, bills, bills, bills.

More coffee. Read. Write. Read.

Interruptions-water plants.Done. Next?

Dinner, studying, Jeopardy, read. Think that I should be writing.

Read in bed. Still think that I should be writing.

It's too late. Read.

Escape, wander free!

Oh! There's me-right before I sleep, a peak, the top of

higher consciousness

falls back into the deep...almost

Done for the day

until the next

thing I get to

do over and over

and over until it's all over.

Unless

I look Up and find

it's a brand new day, never

Done before...

but will I notice?

Image By Marc Stone [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons, 1939.